Ed's Review Dot Com

Ilion Animation Studios, Midnight Radio, Nickelodeon Movies,

Sofia Mali, Jennifer Garner, Ken Hudson Campbell, Kenan Thompson, Mila Kunis, John Oliver, Ken Jeong, Norbert Leo Butz, Matthew Broderick, Brianna Denski, Oev Michael Urbas, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Kevin Chamberlin, Kath Soucie, Noen Perez

June (Sofie Mali, Briana Denski) is a young girl with a vivid imagination. With her Mom (Jennifer Garner) she uses her toys to design and build an imaginary amusement park called Wonderland. But things change as Mom becomes sick and Wonderland gets put away. On a trip to summer camp, June runs away to go back home, but on the way she finds that Wonderland is real, and that since she left it behind, it has fallen into decay and is in bad shape, but with the help of her toy friends, she may be the one who can put it back together again and save the park.

I have been looking forward to this film since I first saw the preview, and thought that I had to see this one. I was disappointed though and I feel quite a bit let down. The colors and the design of this animated film are really good, and the music and soundtrack are well done, but the story lacks any oomph to make it interesting, and I found it just didn’t move me. This is more like a Saturday morning cartoon than a feature movie, and it should have had a lot more work done on the actual story itself which is where the movie fell short. I definitely think it is worth seeing, but as to paying the cash to see this in the theater, maybe there are better things to see than this one. This is a definite rental somewhere down the road, but I sure wish there had been a better story to tell than it provided, so I can’t really recommend running out to see this. Nickelodeon has disappointed me in the past, and I think perhaps they don’t have the depth to make a really good feature film. They just often don’t compare to the big guys. It’s a shame as this looked like a really great opportunity. I am sad.

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Mockingbird Pictures, Dominion Pictures,

Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, Jason O’Mara, Beverly D’Angelo, Ian Anthony Dale, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Isaac Leyva, Victoria Bruno, Ellery Sprayberry, Tracey Walter

Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) has a good job, a loving wife in Diana (Jennifer Garner) and two little girls. He lives in the suburbs and it appears like his life is in order, but internally he’s falling apart. One night he follows a racoon up into the little storage room above the garage, and he just snaps. He watches the family from the little window above the garage and just can’t get the gumption to go inside. Finally he falls asleep, and when he wakes in the morning, he decides that going inside now will cause lots of problems explaining where he was all night, so he hangs out. Days turn into weeks and weeks into months as Howard hides out watching to see what will happen to his grieving family. As time passes, the danger of being discovered grows and it gets harder and harder to determine what in the world to do, but his fantasies bloom as he imagines what would happen if he were to return.

This is a dream I imagine most men have had many times. We all daydream about how to disappear off the face of the earth without a trace just to be able to start over again. But it would also be tempting to hide out and simply watch how your family and friends deal with it. Just like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn hiding out in the balcony and watching their own funeral, I think we’ve all dreamed about that. This is a very unusual movie. Very few characters, and most of the time is dealt inside Howard’s head as he works through his failure in life and what in the world to do get out of the mess he’s made, or if he even wants to get away. Cranston gives this his very best, and he does a great job. Jennifer Garner also pulls all the heart strings as she waits for him long suffering though the whole ordeal. The suspense builds as we know there is no way to get out of this, although I must admit the ending was a bit of a disappointment. But this is a film about the experience, damn the consequences, and not finding out what happens makes the ending more poignant. It makes you think about what would happen if you were discovered, or returned, or simply never went back. It gives us all a lot to think about. There are a few other minor characters that offer a lot to the story, but this is basically a story of Howard and Diana, and it doesn’t stray far from the main story. This was an interesting film, and certainly one I have never heard of before, but found quite entertaining and thought provoking. Another hidden gem of a film. I feel for this guy!

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Big Indie Pictures, ShivHans Pictures,

Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Josh Peck

Danny Collins (Al Pacino) is a rock and roll legend of the 1970’s. He sang some garbage songs that become hugely popular, and here 40 years later, drugs and booze have taken their toll. Danny is still singing the same songs, and wasting as much money as he can. But things are getting rough, and Danny’s best friend and manager Frank Grubman (Christopher Plummer) has set him up with another world tour to bring in some much needed cash. But he has a surprise for him. Frank just got his hands on a letter that was written back in the 70’s from John Lennon himself after a televised Danny Collins concert with some really good advice and invited Danny to call John and discuss it. The letter had never been delivered. Danny was struck deeply by the letter and the advice John gave him and cancels the tour, heads to a hotel in New Jersey to stay long term to change his life around and make thing better. But there are a few other secrets that made Danny choose New Jersey as his estranged son and his family live nearby. With the help of hotel manager Mary Sinclair (Annette Bening) who Danny took a liking toward, he’s trying to change things around. This story is loosely based on a real person who received such a letter from John Lennon that had been undelivered for many years and is based upon his experiences trying to live up to the advice John really did give.

Al Pacino really nailed this role. I was not expecting him to be able to pull this off. Michael Corleone, yeah, or even Satan himself, but a 70’s rock star? Really? He gave it a great deal of effort and played it amazingly. He was extremely funny and quite believable, and really did carry this film. But he had some excellent help. Annette Bening was also very good in her role and it was very nicely done. Jennifer Garner also played the wife of Danny’s son and she had a wide eyed innocence in trying to deal with the whole issue that really added a lot to the film as well. And of course Christopher Plummer was also perfect in his role as the long suffering manager but more of a best friend who really wants to help. All in all, this is a fantastic cast, and I was really blown away with the film. I enjoyed it very much, and highly recommend this movie. I’m not sure how I missed hearing about this one, but this is a great DVD rental and a really enjoyable evening watching this. I was very impressed.

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Walt Disney Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company,

Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, Bella Thorne, Jennifer Coolidge, Megan Mullally

Alexander Cooper’s (Ed Oxenbould) day is starting out really awful. His birthday is coming, and everything is going wrong. When he gets the chance to make his birthday wish, he simply wishes the rest of the family could understand what a terrible day is like. It appears he has cursed his whole family on a very important day as his wish comes true. See, Alexander’s family doesn’t understand how hard it is to be a young boy today. His Dad, Ben (Steve Carell) is the ultimate optimist. Mom (Jennifer Garner) isn’t much better with her gung ho attitude. But today is an important day for everyone, and it’s going very, very, very badly for all of them. The family needs to pull together to get through this and life through till tomorrow.

This is a family film, and so it follows the line of dozens and dozens of other Disney live action films that go back to the 50’s and 60’s. Likewise, it’s based on a book, like a number of the other films of this genre. But that’s exactly how Walt did it too. He’d find a book that his daughters loved and made it into a film. With this film, you get exactly what you would expect which burns up a lot of people. There are many haters out there. This is not “American Pie” or “Superbad” and it never tries to be. It’s been a good while since we’ve had a good family film like this, and with the appearance of Steve Carell as the Disney family Dad, he’s not bad at all at it. He does his best to be a cool guy, but the bumbling Michael Scott character comes out when he’s trying his best, but everything is literally burning down around him. I thought it was really funny, in a PG sort of way that is appropriate for youngsters, especially boys. There are lots of good pre-teen girl movies out there, but the boys typically get either cartoon superheroes or sports movies, which are good in their own right, but it’s nice to see a family togetherness movie aimed at boys. So if your kids haven’t seen it, it’s out on DVD now, so be sure to spend an evening and watch it with them. It’s not spectacular cinema and special effect explosions, but it’s got a lot of childish humor and it really is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

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Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, The Montecito Picture Company,

Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Sam Elliott, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Terry Crews, Ellen Burstyn, Chadwick Boseman

Sonny Weaver, Jr (Kevin Costner) is now General Manager of The Cleveland Browns football team. He took over for his father who recently passed away and he has big shoes to fill. It’s the NFL Draft Day, and Sonny trades up to the Number One pick in order to get the hottest Quarterback on the market, but the cost is very high, and everyone else, from his girlfriend and fellow front office member Ali (Jennifer Garner) and his Mother, (Ellen Burstyn), as well as the whole front office think he’s blown it big time. But Sonny has to figure it out and see if he has what it takes to take over for his Father, whom everybody loved.

The high stakes poker style negotiating of the NFL Draft (and the NBA draft for that matter) is a roller-coaster ride of it’s own, but that’s even just as a spectator. Here we get to go into the back rooms and see how the wheeling and dealing goes on under extreme pressure for everyone involved. A simple mistake in negotiation could mean plus or minus millions of dollars as the season plays out. This film really takes you into the action, and it’s a very good movie. I found myself enjoying it a lot, even though I’m not the hugest NFL fan. I watch my Steelers when I can, but drafting a fantasy team, or following the draft on TV is not something I’ve really invested myself in. But I have to admit I was thoroughly entertained, and I think even a non-football fan could enjoy this film as well since there is so much other stuff going on. Though it reminded me of Moneyball a little bit, as the subject is similar, trying to find the right players at the right cost to make your team, I think it was even more enjoyable to me than Moneyball was. Kevin Costner was very good, and he carried the film really well. There’s such a feeling of realism, that you would swear that its’ a true story, and there are many real people who play themselves, even though this is a fictitious story, there is some similarity to a real event. There’s drama, suspense, humor, and good old fashioned drama going on here, and the movie never lets up. Very well presented, everyone deserves kudos from the script to the photography, to the casting and acting in this sports film. I really enjoyed this movie, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to anyone who is a football fan!

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